If
there is anything taken more seriously than the US flag, it's possibly the
national anthem. The Star-spangled Banner accompanies just about every major
American function, and at major sporting events a significant honor is bestowed
on those asked to sing what is probably the best known national anthem in the
world.

Listen
closely to the words and it tells of a highly emotional moment in US history
when the war with the British was being fought and of one man's relief in
seeing the US flag still flying after a vicious bombardment.

Before
the Battle

The
War of 1812 had been a particularly nasty conflict with the British. They had
burned down the Capitol and the White House in Washington, and were set on
taking the port of Baltimore, which was protected in part by Fort McHenry, just
to the south.

On
September 7th, 1814, during the build-up to the attack on Baltimore, two
Americans, Colonel John Skinner and a lawyer and part-time poet by the name of
Francis Scott Key, had gone out to one of the British ships. They had come to
negotiate the release of Dr William Beanes, a friend of Key who had been seized
following the attack on Washington. The British agreed, but all three had
learned too much about the forthcoming attack on Baltimore and so were detained
by the British on board the frigate Surprise until it was over.

(Google Image)

The
Defense of Fort McHenry

The
attack started on September 12th, 1814, and after an initial exchange of fire,
the fleet withdrew to form an arc just outside the range of Fort McHenry's
fire.

Skinner,
Beanes and Key watched much of the bombardment from the British deck. The major
attack started in heavy rain on the morning of September 13th. Just under three
miles in the distance the three men caught glimpses of the star-shaped fort
with its huge flag - 42ft long, with 8 red stripes, 7 white stripes and 15
white stars, and specially commissioned to be big enough that the British could
not possibly fail to see it from a distance.

(Google Image)

In
the dark of the night of the 13th, the shelling suddenly stopped. Through the
darkness they couldn't tell whether the British forces had been defeated, or
the fort had fallen.

As
the rain cleared, and the sun began to rise, Key peered through the lifting
darkness anxious to see if the flag they had seen the night before was still
flying. And so it was that he scribbled on the back of an envelope the first
lines of a poem he called Defense of Fort M'Henry:

O,
say can you see, by the dawn's early light,

What
so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming

As
the mist started to clear he was aware that there was a flag flying - but was
it the British flag? It was difficult to tell:

What
is that which the breeze o'er the towering steep,

As
it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

But
finally the sun rose, and with intense relief and pride he saw that the fort
had withstood the onslaught ...

'Tis
the star-spangled banner - O long may it wave

O'er
the land of the free and the home of the brave.

This
song was originally written as a poem, but Key's words were later set to the
tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven," a popular English song, and it
became our national anthem was adopted as such in 1916 by President Woodrow
Wilson. In 1931, it was declared by law
by President Herbert Hoover that the Star Spangled Banner become the National
Anthem.

(Google Image)

The
anthem is usually just sung at sporting events or government functions. The past few years have been very frustrating
since the performers have failed to remember the words to the song or tried to
make new arrangements of it. The recent
passing of Whitney Houston reminded me of the year she sang the anthem at the
Super Bowl. It was the most memorable
performance in the past 20 years, and listening to it brought a lump to my
throat and tears to my eyes.

Today is National
Anthem Day, below is the verse written by Francis Scott Key, as you read over
it, say a prayer for those who fought for our freedoms and who are still
fighting today.